Kapur: Asian golfers on the up

It's South African George Coetzee and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria who hold a joint share of the lead after two rounds at the Doha Golf Club, with the pair sitting on nine-under par.

Korean Ben An Byeong-hun is one shot back, while Kapur's 68 sees him sitting three shots back, with Thai Kiradech Aphibarnrat a further shot adrift. Jeev Milkha Singh abn Thongchai Jaidee are sitting further down the leaderboard, but not out of contention.

Kapur feels that the strong Asian presence shows progression from years gone by.

“I’ve known Jeev for a very long time and he seems to be coming back into form after a bit of a rough year with injuries. We all know Thongchai is usually going to be at the business end of the leaderboard, same for Kiradech. It’s a really strong Asian presence,” he said.

“Back in the day, you didn’t really see many Asians contending on desert courses, predominantly because of the length of the courses. They’re very different to the courses we’ve grown up on, but with the more exposure we’ve had playing on The European Tour, you see Asians contending now.”

The 32-year-old is hopeful that it will be an Asian player that triumphs at the event, but knows the competition is tough.

“I’d say there’s as good a chance for an Asian champion as there has been, but the field here is always very strong and you always have the top players here,” he explained.

“You have to have a bit of luck, but I won’t say it’s out of the question. You have to have a few guys firing on all cylinders to be at the business end of the leaderboard, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see an Asian winner.”